AuthorTopic: Any info on Bracknell GFast rollout? (Read 1720 times)

Hi all, It has been a long time since I was last here! A few years ago I moved to a new build area that was all cabled up and it worked well. I enjoyed the 200/350mbps speeds, but I've moved again and although cable may be possible, I'm just going to stick with FTTC this time.

Anyway, I digress! In my old property I previously posted on the TBB forums questioning whether a new pod that had appeared on the local cabinet was a GFast one (Dec 2018). These were popping up all over Bracknell at that time. My new house also has a GFast pod attached. However, neither of them are showing as live yet - nor are many others I have been searching in the Bracknell area (I think I only found one cab that's showing active).

I've seen people commenting the GFast activation can take quite a while from the install - but most of the pods have been sat there for coming up to a year. Is there anyone in the know that know's what's happening? I've seen the talk of BT halting the GFast rollout - but surely they wouldn't halt one where a vast bulk of the equipment has already been installed?

Those speeds don't make me confident of you being able to benefit from G.fast unless you are unfortunate to be on an ECI cabinet where the absence of G.INP and XdB in combination with crosstalk has really notched your speeds down on a relatively short line. But this is a speculation.

I understand that VDSL stats are not the most accurate prediction for G.fast, but they are certainly better than nothing. Do you have access to your line stats?

Not yet, I just have the bog standard talktalk hub for now. I'm looking at what my options are when it comes to modems whilst the line "trains" (it only went live today) - a Zyxel 8324 is looking most likely, as I just need the modem part of it in bridge mode.

The cab itself is set away from any nearby houses - so my street is one of the closest to it depending on which route the wires take underground. That said, it was an early-to-mid 70's build - I know there may be the possibility of it being an alu line as well.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to benefit from gfast but I know it may not work out - it's not the end of the world. I'll give it a try... if anywhere in Bracknell ever seems to get activated!

It's nice to see a few cabs out there that are live! For most of the properties we went to look at, this is the one of the things I looked up - which is when I started asking questions about all these pods but so little service out there.

Wow - thanks for that info John! I didn't realise the GFast range was so small, to the point where most properties on this cab won't actually show it.

I've attached a map image of where the cab is located physically - along with the 9SB postcode you linked to, which is enabled, and where I'm located, which isn't. At first glance, the difference doesn't look that much, but I guess it all depends the path the wires takes.

Almost every cab in Bracknell now has a pod on it so I guess there's some sort of roll-out which drove it, rather than it being a feasible one.

Seeing as the OP's cabinet as Huawei and not ECI as I previous speculated, then the line is probably a bit longer than anticpated.

It actually doesn't look that far away, but that approx. 250m by road could easily exceed ~300-350m by electrical distance depending on actual route - the case would be more likely if the D-side is composed of thin copper and/or aluminium. At that point, there is no real chance to supply G.fast above the min. 120 Mbps threshold.

The end result here is that it not showing as available is almost certainly correct.

What also can add to the distance is which side of the house the distribution pods are (if applicable). Mine is the other direction to the cabinet - and that in itself is 50m from my house, so there's 100m of it!

Maybe this is the case for OP here too, (and many other people, I'd suspect). All depends on where all the cables go, of course.

It does seem absolutely crazy to install a pod there. There's a business building over the road, and a block of flats being built the other direction - those are pretty much the only two building that would remotely be in range - and that's if the flats will even be fed by that PCP.

As soon as I get a proper modem I'll post some line stats for people to have a look over. As to whether the lines are alu, I don't think there's an easy way to tell is there?

It does seem absolutely crazy to install a pod there. There's a business building over the road, and a block of flats being built the other direction - those are pretty much the only two building that would remotely be in range - and that's if the flats will even be fed by that PCP.

Can happen with OR's deployment of G.fast to the cabinet. There is that rare cabinet which serves sparse dwellings or is placed in an odd location that gets a G.fast pod. As a result, only a few properties can actually benefit.